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Showing posts with label web design. Show all posts
Showing posts with label web design. Show all posts

Hot Design and Branding For A Cold Product: Batch Ice Cream




The Ice Creamists and Eyescream and Friends are only two of the newer ice cream companies to have unique and fun branding. Meet Boston's Batch Ice Cream.


above: Batch Ice Cream founders Veronica Janssens and Susie Parrish

Founded in 2009 and launched in 2010 by native Bostonian Susie Parrish and Netherlands-born Veronica Janssens, Batch Ice Cream is ice cream made completely from scratch, using only real ingredients. By “real”, they mean there’s nothing in there with a crazy name, like xanthan gum or carrageenan or even corn syrup. The two worked with many local and Fair Trade suppliers to find just the right ingredients for their natural, pure and unique flavors.




Now with seven delicious flavors and a mobile food truck, Batch Ice Cream has been receiving a lot of favorable press in the Boston area. Not yet available outside of New England, the simplicity and purity of the product is conveyed through their chalkboard-illustrated packaging and branding.

Packaging:




Mobile Truck:




Point of Purchase:


Info Cards:


Logo:


Website:
Their new website, created by the Boston office of Arnold Worldwide, utilizes the chalkboard typography and look in an easy-to-navigate, charming and informative fashion.

Below are examples of the website's design and interface:




Pints of Batch Ice Cream can be found in grocery stores and other shops throughout New England - look here for the list of shops that carry batch® -

Batch Ice Cream
images courtesy of Batch Ice Cream, The Boston Globe and The Dieline.

Countdown to Christmas Eve With Google's New Santa Tracker, Chrome App and Interactive Website.




For the past few years I have been writing posts about Norad's Santa Tracker (once a partner of Google's) and how it works as a nice online activity to enjoy with your children and friends. Now that Microsoft's Bing has partnered with Norad, Google has gone all out and created their own Google Maps' Santa Tracker and until it launches on Christmas Eve, you can explore a fun interactive animated site with plenty of games and goodies or download a Google Chrome app for added entertainment.




above: screen grabs of the Village briefing and windtunnel

Santa’s many developer elves, who are hard at work in the North Pole helping Santa prepare for his big day, have combined their elf magic with the latest and greatest in Google Maps technology and sleigh engineering to allow you to follow his progress around the world, and also learn a little about some of his stops along the way.


above: a sneak preview of the Google Santa Tracker which launches on Christmas Eve.

Even without using Google chrome as your browser, you can enjoy the following at the Google Santa Tracker Site:

•Create a Custom Phone Call from Santa in the form of an mp3 file you can send to your friends (This is really cool. It takes a few minutes to make the first one, but it's worth it.)



•You (or your kids) can play one of three games that operates with your keyboard.

Present Drop:


Village Racer:


Jetpack:


If you use Google Chrome, you can download the app and enjoy even more fun like a dashboard tracker, play around with Santa's blimp or elf bus and write messages on a frosty browser window.




•You can Follow Santa on Google+

The friendly elves have also invited you to explore Santa’s village while Santa gets ready for his journey. So go ahead and explore his village, you might just find some fun activities and meet some interesting elves.

The Google Maps Santa Tracker is created and developed by Google, with a little help from Santa’s elves. Need help or have another question? Visit their Help Center to learn more about Santa Tracker.

Related links:

Pinstagram, The Ultimate Mash-Up. Your Instagram Photos In Pinterest Format.



above composite of instagram and pinterest logos ©iihih

I was wondering how long it would take for the ever-growing Pinterest platform to combine with the incredibly popular Instagram app. Not long as you will see with Pinstagram, a new site by co-founders Brandon Leonardo and Pek Pongpaet.

Below is a reprint of the article "Pinstagram: How Instagram Should Look On the Web":


We have all seen those mythical hybrid animals, like the zeroed, a mix of zebra and equine, or perhaps the more commonly known beefalo, a mix of buffalo and cow. You may even be familiar with the leopon, the result of breeding a male leopard with a female lion. Hybrids are real. And there are others too, mind you. But it's not all fur and feathers; many such hybrids live on the Internet. Especially sites like Pinstagram, a "Pinterest for your Instagram images," as co-founder Pek Pongpaet describes it. In an increasingly visual Web, it's a wonder that this hybrid didn't come about sooner.

Like most things on the Internet, Pinstagram happened fast.

"We were joking one evening about how Instagram is worth $1 billion and how Pinterest's valuation might already be in the $500 million range," says co-founder Brandon Leonardo. "And we were thinking about the idea of a Twitter for Facebook, what that would be like. Then I could tell Pek started thinking about it. The gears started turning; he was visualizing a Pinterest for Instagram."



Not more than 24 hours later, Pongpaet had already coded and designed it. This sort of fast turnaround is pretty natural for Pongpaet and Leonardo, who come from a hackathon "get stuff out as fast as possible and ask questions later" type of background.


above: Pinstagram on the iPad

If this sort of idea had popped up within a larger company setting, for example, it would have "taken months," says Pongapaet.

Since Pinstagram's debut just a few weeks ago, the site has already seen about 6,400 Facebook likes of Instagram images, thousands of tweets and a few hundred pins.

Pinstagram: An Indicator of the Evolving Visual Web

Services like Pinterest and Instagram are integral to the future of the visual Web. No longer do people send photos to document memories; they are lifestreaming as it all happens, with pictures telling the story. It's no wonder that Facebook snatched up Instagram while it still had the chance.


above: my own pinstagram page

"The visual medium has always had international appeal," says Pongapaet. "Sending pictures is very common. If you stick to English, you'll alienate a lot of people. Visual mediums let you transcend all barriers. It takes seconds to process a photo."

What about Webstagram, the Instagram Web viewer? Isn't this a sufficient way to view Instragram images on the Internet? For some, it's perfect. But like many news Web sites, Webstagram is organized around "popular," "my photos," "liked," "hot," "photo of the day" and more. It feels more like a news website and less like a glossy, Pinterest-like magazine.



"The reason I built Pinstagram is because this is my world view of how Instagram should look on the Web," says Pongapaet. "Our core focus is to recreate the Instagram experience on the desktop and to be able to extend that to our users."

Not everyone wants to see their Instagrams in a Pinterest-like layout, however, and Pongapaet acknowledges that.

"There are always different interpretations," he says. "That's what great about art, about having different APIs - people all have different interpretations."

Pinstagram just integrated into Facebook Timeline. As the Instagram-Facebook integration continues to rollout, so will this nifty Pinterest-Instagram hybrid beast.- by Alicia Eler on May 11th, 2012 for ReadWriteWeb.

Below is a video interview with Pongpaet about Pinstagram:


Pinstagram

The i'm Watch. An Android-Based Smart Phone For Your Wrist.




NOTE: Since this post, the I'm Watch has been redesigned. Check out the new updated better looking I'm Watch here.

Designed and assembled in Italy, the i'm Watch functions like a smart phone for your wrist. The wireless Bluetooth enabled watch works with the Android phone, the iPhone4 and, come January 2012, the Blackberry.



It can receive and send phone calls, e-mails, instant messages, text messages, stores addresses, photos, receive Facebook™, Twitter™, Foursquare™ notifications, check stocks, read the news and a lot more.





It's available to purchase now in either the Color collection (fun bright colors) or in the Jewel collection (black with yellow gold, white with diamonds, black with black gold, white with pink gold and black with titanium).



The video below shows the Color Collection and is followed by images of all the styles, the functions and technical specs.



The i'm Watch Color Collection available in White, Black, Red, Yellow, Green, Light Blue and Pink:









The i'm Watch Jewel Collection available in Yellow Gold, White Gold, Pink Gold, Black Gold, Titanium:







With i’m Watch you can:

• Visualise the watch both in the analogue and digital format: as you prefer.

• Receive calls showing name and number of caller: and see who is calling you at a glance. You can decide whether to answer or decline a call. All this while keeping your smartphone silent in your pocket.

• Call by entering the number or by using the address book: to make a call, all you need to do is enter a number or touch a name. As simple as that. And you can do it just about anywhere: simply touch a name in your address book.

• Use speakerphone: that’s going hands free. For example, avoid distractions while driving.

• Receive text messages with preview: from today, reading a text message is as easy as checking the time.

• Receive emails showing the sender and the subject: your emails straight on your i'm Watch: sender and subject are sufficient to understand importance of the email and therefore decide whether to read it immediately or later on your smartphone.

• Check the weather forecast of your city: you are updated in real time and wherever you go. Under any circumstance, weather forecast for the next hours is useful.

• Receive notifications from Facebook™, Twitter™, Foursquare™, etc.: i'm Watch is more social than you can even imagine. Keep in touch with the world.

• Download all the music you want from i’music: and then listen to it whenever. What about incoming calls? Music is paused when i’mWatch rings and to answer just click the button on your headphones.

• Download apps from i’m store: each downloaded app offers new functions to your i'm Watch, making it more and more fun and capable of doing extraordinary things.

• View the photo and image gallery: on i'mWatch your photos sparkle and shine in all their splendour. With a touch you can enlarge them and with another restore them to their original size. Just swipe the display and you can slide through unforgettable moments and instants. Always with you, all on your wrist.

• View stock market data and receive notifications: follow and keep up-to-date on all your interests, wherever you are. It is sufficient to personalise notifications you want to receive.

• Receive appointment notifications and consult the same: with only a touch you can check on your next appointment and with a quick glance read a notification.

• You can transform an idea into an app. There are no limits to your fantasy. The world of i’m Watch is open to all developers who, just like ourselves, believe that we are about to write the history of smartwatches.

• Use the apps you prefer and pass from one to another in just seconds without slowing down performances of the app in the foreground or discharging the battery uselessly. i'm Watch is multitasking.

Specs:

Size and Weight:
Height: 55 mm
Width: 40 mm
Depth: 9 mm
Weight: 70 gr (for the i'm color version)

Memory:
Flash Drive: 4GB
RAM: 64 MB

Processor:
CPU: IMX233

Display:
1.54” (diagonal) colour TFT display
240x240 pixel resolution
220 ppi (pixel per inch)


Wireless Technology:
Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR

Power and battery:
Built-in rechargeable Li-Po 600 mA battery
Charging via USB to computer system or via power adapter
Standby time without Bluetooth connection: up to 48 hours
Standby time with Bluetooth connection: up to 30 hours
Talk time with speakerphone: up to 2 hours
Time for other uses: up to 2 hours

Audio/video playback:
Formats supported: all formats

Compatible telephones:
iPhone 4
Android devices
Black Berry (January, 2012)

Operating System:
Android based

Connectors and input/output:
3.5 mm headphone, connection and power minijack
Microphone
Built-in speaker


External buttons and controls:


Languages:
English (U.S.), English (UK), French (France), German, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, Korean, Japanese, Russian, Polish, Turkish, Ukrainian, Hungarian, Arabic, Thai, Czech, Greek, Hebrew, Indonesian, Malay, Romanian, Slovak, Croatian, Catalan and Vietnamese.

*Technical specifications may be subject to change.


Buy the i'm Watch here

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